The present invention relates to machines for inspecting glass containers such as bottles.
Glass bottles formed in an I.S. machine may have one or more defects. The top surface of the bottle may not be smooth and as a result the cap may not seal the contents of the bottle. The opening of the bottle may be too small or the O.D. of the finish may be too large. And there may be a great variety of defects in the glass that make the bottle unacceptable. A number of inspection machines have been developed to identify these defects. In one design, which is disclosed in U.K. Patent No. 1,552,994, individual carriages are displaced around a closed elliptical loop. Bottles to be inspected are delivered by a first conveyor to the start of one side of the elliptical path and are transferred to these carriages. Each bottle is then carried along this side past an inspection station, and, at the end of the side, is transferred to a second conveyor which is in line with the first conveyor. Such machines have now been developed to have as many as six or seven inspection stations along the side connecting the conveyors. As the number of inspection stations increases so, too, does the length of the machine.
It is an object of the present invention to make this machine more productive.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following portion of this specification and from the accompanying drawings which illustrate in accordance with the mandate of the patent statutes a presently preferred embodiment incorporating the principles of the invention.